Qatar Emiri Air Force To Get The Full Range of MBDA Missiles for its 24 Rafale fighters 0705152

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Published: Friday, 08 May 2015 12:59

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Air
Force in the world - MBDA & Qatar

Qatar
Emiri Air Force To Get The Full Range of MBDA Missiles for its 24 Rafale
fighters

By
Nathan Gain

Air Recognition learned some of the contract
details signed between missiles manufacturer MBDA and the Qatar Emirate.
According to an industry source who wished to remain unnamed, this contract
includes the full range of Rafale weapons available for export: Exocet
AM 39 Block II, SCALP, AASM, MICA IR, MICA EM and Meteor missiles. Air
Recognition understands this order would be the largest export contract
ever signed by MBDA.

The Exocet AM39 is the airborne version of the Exocet
anti-ship missile family. Exocet AM39 is in service with the French
armed forces and the navies of 11 other countries. In January 2004,
the French DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement)
awarded MBDA with the contract covering the development of both the
Exocet AM39 Block2 Mod2 and the Exocet MM40 Block3. In June 2007, the
latest Mod2 development of the Exocet AM39 Block2 completed its final
validation firing from a naval Rafale F3 combat aircraft. The firing
also served as the validation firing for the Rafale in its F3 standard.
An operational evaluation firing took place in September 2012 from a
Rafale marking the end of military testing and the start of the missile’s
operational life on this aircraft. The Mod2 evolution has seen the digitisation
of Exocet AM39 Block2, an adaptation called for by the requirements
of the latest generation of rotary and fixed wing aircraft such as the
Rafale F3.

The
Storm Shadow /SCALP missile (Système de Croisière Autonome
à Longue Portée) is a long-range, air-launched, stand-off
attack missile. The missile is intended to strike high-valued stationary
assets such as airbases, radar installations, communications hubs and
port facilities. The SCALP is capable of engaging the targets precisely
in any weather conditions during day and night. The long range and low
attitude combined with subsonic speed make the Storm Shadow a stealthy
missile.

Storm Shadow was successfully deployed on Tornado GR4 combat aircraft
by the Royal Air Force’s 617 “Dambusters” Squadron during
Operation Telic in 2003. A total of 27 missiles were fired during the
conflict delivering significant in-target effect and proving the missile’s
exceptional capability to accurately engage targets at extended ranges
ensuring that the launch aircraft remains safely away from the target
area. The first operational use of SCALP by France in a conflict occurred
on March 24, 2011. Several SCALPs were fired against a military air base
of Gaddafi’s loyalist forces in Libya. The raid employed two Mirage
2000D and two Rafale Air operated from air bases in France as well as
two Rafale Marine operated from the “Charles-de-Gaulle” aircraft
carrier in the Mediterranean.

During the same operations in Libya, the Royal Air Force and the Italian
Air Force also fired a substantial quantity of Storm Shadows against high
value military targets from their Tornado aircraft.

The
Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition
Extended Range) is a new generation medium-range modular air-to-ground
weapon designed and manufactured by Sagem (Safran group), and marketed
by MBDA. The standard AASM GPS/inertial version has been deployed onboard
Rafale twin-jet, multi-role combat fighters of French Air Force and Navy
since 2008 and 2010 respectively. Up to six hammer missiles can be carried
by a Rafale fighter. The AASM weapon system has a length of 3m and weight
of 330kg, and has a range of over 60km at high altitudes and 15km at low
altitudes. It has fire and forget capability, and an extended stand-off
capacity.

150
MICA IR and 150 MICA EM air to air missiles

MICA
is the reference multi-mission air to-air missile system for the Rafale
and the latest versions of the Mirage 2000 combat aircraft. Developed
by MBDA, MICA provides a high level of tactical flexibility. The MICA
system comprises 2 versions: MICA (EM) RF with an active radio frequency
seeker and MICA IR with a passive dual waveband imaging infrared seeker.
Both missiles are fully qualified and in mass production, being currently
flown by numerous air forces worldwide

A
“full MICA” configuration on an aircraft such as Rafale gives
a very flexible and high BVR fire power for Air Superiority during all
kind of missions: combat air patrol, sweep, deep strike, recce, maritime
operations. MICA missile in BVR mode introduces a new way of waging air
combat by offering multi-target capability at extended ranges with the
two interoperable guidance systems to hamper enemy counter measures. All
carried (EM) RF or IR MICA missiles are fully BVR, being operable with
or without data link target designation updating.

In short range (SR) combat, a MICA configuration on an aircraft offers
a full "new generation" capability thanks to the outstanding
performance of the missile (extreme agility and manoeuvrability). An additional
advantage lies in the possibility of launching MICA with its seeker (namely
IR) either locked-on to the target or not, while still featuring all BVR
qualities.

On
28th April 2015 teams from the French Ministry of Defence, Dassault Aviation
and MBDA carried out the first guided firing of the long-range Meteor
missile against an air target from a Rafale combat aircraft. (Picture: DGA)

160
Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile

The
Meteor is a next generation, active radar-guided, beyond visual range
air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) system. The missile has a range in excess
of 100km. It is designed for a speed greater than Mach 4. The missile
has a large no escape zone. With a throttleable ramjet motor and ‘fire
and forget’ firing mode, Meteor is intended for very long BVR (Beyond
Visual Range) air defence operations.

Thanks to the performance of the RBE2 AESA (Active Electronically Scanned
Array) radar which equips the Rafale (the only European combat aircraft
currently equipped operationally with this kind of sensor), it is able
to intercept targets at very long range thereby complementing the currently
deployed MICA missile used for combat and self defence. The first Meteor
missiles will be delivered as of 2018 to equip the Rafales of the French
Air Force and Navy.